2006 Meistriliiga

Meistriliiga

Season	2006
Champions	Levadia (4th title)
Top goalscorer	Maksim Gruznov (31)
← 2005 2007 →

2006 Meistriliiga was the 16th season of the Meistriliiga, Estonia's premier football league. Levadia won their fourth title.

Season overview

FC Levadia won the 2006 Meistriliiga championship and entered the 2007/08 UEFA Champions League 1st Qualifying Round. Narva Trans finished in their best ever silver-medal position, while FC Flora also gained a place compared to last season on 2005 champions FC TVMK's disappointing year. The latter will enter the Intertoto Cup and the other two above mentioned teams enter the UEFA Cup qualifying rounds in the summer of 2007.

The bottom of the table provided some intrigue as well. The two Tartu teams ended mid-table, with Tammeka's youthful-looking squad impressing under experienced coach and ex-international Sergei Ratnikov, in his first year as the head coach. Pärnu Vaprus was perhaps the surprise package of the season finishing seventh on their debut year in the Meistriliiga and bringing Pärnu back on to the Estonian football map. Mainly Russian-speaking Tallinn team, FC Ajax Lasnamäe, proved a point by staying up against all predictions. JK Viljandi Tulevik had a dreadful year and had to go into the play-offs against Esiliiga's JK Tallinna Kalev and lost, which should've meant their relegation a step down. But after the merging of the Tartu clubs, JK Maag and Tammeka, they will still be in the Meistriliiga in 2007. The team with the youngest average aged squad in the league, Warrior Valga, were relegated without a meaningful fight.

The league's top scorers were two JK Narva Trans strikers Maksim Gruznov (with 31 goals) and Dmitri Lipartov (27 goals). FC Flora Tallinn's Vjatšeslav Zahovaiko scored 25, FC Levadia Tallinn's Indrek Zelinski 21 goals.

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Levadia (C)	36	30	4	2	114	29	+85	94	Qualification for Champions League first qualifying round
2	Narva Trans	36	25	8	3	106	36	+70	83	Qualification for UEFA Cup first qualifying round
3	Flora	36	26	4	6	93	34	+59	82
4	TVMK	36	22	6	8	83	37	+46	72	Qualification for Intertoto Cup first round
5	Maag	36	13	9	14	65	68	−3	48	Merged together
6	Tammeka	36	12	7	17	45	57	−12	43
7	Vaprus	36	10	4	22	49	86	−37	34
8	Lasnamäe Ajax	36	6	7	23	35	104	−69	25
9	Tulevik	36	5	5	26	29	74	−45	20	Spared from relegation
10	Warrior (R)	36	3	2	31	16	110	−94	11	Relegation to Esiliiga

Source: Estonian Football Association (in Estonian)
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) number of wins; 3) head-to-head points; 4) head-to-head goal difference; 5) head-to-head goals scored; 6) goal difference; 7) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated

Relegation play-off

8 November 2006

Tallinna Kalev	+ / -	Tulevik

12 November 2006

Tulevik	- / +	Tallinna Kalev

Both games were awarded - / + to Tallinna Kalev since Tulevik fielded an ineligible player.

Kalev had originally won 1 – 1 with away goals

Tulevik kept their place in the Meistriliiga as a result of merger of Tammeka Tartu and Maag Tartu. ^[1]

Results

Each team played every opponent four times, twice at home and twice on the road, for a total of 36 games.

First half of season Home \ Away FLO AJX LEV MAA TRS TAM TUL TVM VAP WAR Flora 6–0 0–1 1–1 2–1 3–0 3–0 1–4 4–0 2–0 Lasnamäe Ajax 1–4 0–3 3–3 0–3 1–2 1–0 1–2 3–1 2–0 Levadia 4–1 8–0 1–1 1–1 4–1 2–0 2–1 4–1 5–0 Maag 1–2 3–1 1–2 2–2 0–2 0–0 2–0 0–3 6–0 Narva Trans 2–2 2–0 1–1 2–2 3–2 6–1 1–0 6–3 4–0 Tammeka 0–1 4–1 0–5 1–2 0–3 0–0 0–2 2–0 3–0 Tulevik 0–3 5–2 1–3 0–3 0–3 0–2 1–2 1–1 3–0 TVMK 1–0 8–1 0–2 5–0 1–1 1–1 2–1 7–1 4–1 Vaprus 2–4 1–0 1–2 2–3 1–4 0–2 3–0 1–0 2–0 Warrior 0–2 1–3 0–4 0–2 0–5 1–1 3–0 0–5 1–3 Source: [ citation needed ] Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Second half of season Home \ Away FLO AJX LEV MAA TRS TAM TUL TVM VAP WAR Flora 6–0 1–0 2–0 3–2 5–2 2–0 1–1 2–0 6–0 Lasnamäe Ajax 0–2 0–8 3–2 0–5 2–0 1–1 2–2 1–2 1–2 Levadia 2–2 11–3 2–0 1–1 2–0 3–0 3–1 3–1 7–1 Maag 2–3 2–2 4–2 2–6 1–1 4–3 1–1 4–2 4–1 Narva Trans 2–1 2–0 2–3 6–1 2–0 3–0 3–2 5–1 4–0 Tammeka 1–3 2–1 0–3 0–0 2–4 1–0 1–2 1–1 5–0 Tulevik 0–2 0–0 0–2 0–2 1–2 1–2 1–4 1–2 1–0 TVMK 3–2 1–0 2–3 3–0 1–1 2–1 3–1 3–1 1–0 Vaprus 1–4 0–0 1–3 1–4 0–3 1–1 1–2 0–3 5–2 Warrior 0–5 0–0 0–1 1–0 0–3 0–2 1–4 0–3 1–2 Source: [ citation needed ] Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Season statistics

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals [2]
1	Maksim Gruznov	Narva Trans	31
2	Dmitri Lipartov	Narva Trans	27
3	Vjatšeslav Zahovaiko	Flora	25
4	Indrek Zelinski	Levadia	21
5	Aleksandr Dubõkin	Narva Trans	19
6	Vitali Gussev	Maag Tartu	18
	Vladislav Gussev	TVMK
	Konstantin Vassiljev	Levadia
9	Nikita Andreev	Levadia	17
	Viktors Dobrecovs	TVMK

See also

• 2006 Esiliiga

References

1. "Jalgpalliliit tühistas Kalevi ja Tuleviku mängude tulemused". Eesti Päevaleht. 14 November 2006.
2. "MÄNGUDE AJALUGU" (in Estonian). Estonian Football Association.